This is the first of a two-part series. Next week, we'll look at how the campaign shifted from the promotional stage to one of crisis communications.
The toy may have been an overnight sensation, but the PR campaign run by Freeman Public Relations for Tyco Toys Inc.'s [TTI] wildly popular Tickle Me Elmo doll was a carefully planned campaign that ultimately had the difficult task of handling its own success.
Contrary to the "immediate hit" status awarded the toy, the PR campaign was launched a year in advance of the toy's retail launch by carefully cultivating key members of the print and TV media.
And when the toy's popularity soared beyond all expectations the day after Thanksgiving 1996, the Clifton, N.J.-based PR firm had to shift into high gear to accommodate the flood of PR requests coming in from all over the globe regarding the doll. And - as supplies of the doll dwindled - it had to deftly handle competing media requests for product samples without alienating key media contacts.
Toward the end of the year, the PR firm quickly shifted gears once more to defend the company's factory operations in China as part of the media's scrutiny of toy industry manufacturing practices overseas. It also set out to address the merger of Tyco with El Segundo, Calif.-based toy giant Mattel, Inc. [MAT] - while simultaneously juggling PR for other new toy releases by Tyco, including Tyco's VideoCam, another hit toy of the holiday season.
It also had to craft responses to defuse media reports that began to tag Tyco as taking advantage of consumers by creating product shortages as it continued to hype the product.
Overall, the multifaceted PR campaign that ensued turned out to be a fairly complex exercise in promoting a $28 red, furry giggling sensation.
"We weren't miracle PR workers," said Bruce Maguire, CEO, Freeman Public Relations. "But we did have the foresight to put Elmo into the hands of the right people early on."
Freeman Public Relations, a firm with 17 employees and $2 million in billings in 1996, began representing Tyco in 1980. It has also handled PR for other kid-related products and companies, including the U.S. launch of then Israel-based Comfy Inc., maker of kids computer products, now relocated to California. The firm currently handles PR for Warner Bros. Consumer Products.
In June of 1995, the firm reviewed the Tyco Preschool line, and met Tickle Me Elmo for the first time.
"You could tell it was a magical toy, but no one had a clue it would become as big as it became," said Maguire. "We saw it in context with more than 100 other SKUs [stock keeping units]."
The PR firm did identify Elmo as a stand-out candidate for quick visual recognition for TV media, however. In the fall of 1995, the firm spent a few months creating a product launch campaign for the American International Toy Fair a New York-based annual event where buyers come to see new product launches and toy lines.
"Our main strategy at Toy Fair was to get the toys previewed by the trades, because the media goes to those [trade] experts to get their read on [hot new toys]," said Ellie Bagli, account supervisor at Freeman. "We wanted to get to the opinion leaders first."
On the Friday preceding Toy Fair, Tyco and Freeman held a special breakfast for about 15 carefully chosen media professionals at Tyco's New York showroom. Attending were representatives from trade publications such as The Toy Book and Playthings, as well as the mainstream media such as New York Times and the Associated Press.
Reaching out to the trades led to one enthusiastic trade newsletter editor to maneuver the doll onto TV.
"[Toy expert and editor of Market Focus:Toys] Chris Byrne took an almost overzealous liking to Elmo, and Ellie took a prototype of the doll to him at NBC's "Today Show," said Maguire.
The result was that Elmo landed in the hands of the Today Show's Al Roker - the first in a long line of crucial TV appearances.
"Obviously, no one could have forseen the phenomena, but I felt the doll was a real breakthrough in the preschool category," said Byrne. "It was the first time in the preschool category an affordable technology had been married to a popular character and it really stood out as something new and creative."
Based on reactions to Elmo at Toy Fair, Tyco Preschool increased the number of dolls that would go into production later that Spring from 250,000 to 400,000, said Maguire. The number of dolls in production eventually reached 1 million by Christmas day.
Meanwhile, the PR firm continued to push the doll to family magazines like Family Fun, which runs an annual toy survey, as well as to magazines that cover the preschool toy area. Family Fun named Tickle Me Elmo a winner in its preschool category and ran a story in November 1996.
The firm also held a special activity day for the media at Sesame Place, a kids amusement and theme park in Langhorne, Pa. Editors of parenting magazines, and other members of the media were invited to Sesame Place with their kids and were offered hotel accommodations and transportation by bus from New York.
More than 500 media professionals and their kids showed up for the day. Freeman staffers set up play stations for different age groups for the kids so they could interact with some of Tyco Preschool's new products. The day cost Tyco Preschool about $5,000, said Maguire.
"It was immediately covered in the toy trades, with photos, but we didn't start seeing coverage in the [mainstream] magazines until two or three months later," said Bagli.
In the meantime, Bagli became an expert on the content and target audience for several morning TV shows. She quickly determined that the Rosie O'Donnell show would be the perfect place for Tickle Me Elmo to appear because O'Donnell's audience was precisely Tyco's key target market: moms at home with young kids.
"We had seen Rosie promoting other products on her show," said Bagli. "We knew she liked the Sesame Street Elmo character and often had the muppet on as a guest, and would interview him. As soon as we got a Tickle Me Elmo out of production, I sent one over to her."
Subsequently, O'Donnell's young son dropped the doll in the toilet, O'Donnell announced on the show one day, and added that she needed another.
"I said, 'get every single Elmo we have and walk it over there before she leaves today,' " said Bagli, who sent over a box of muppets and several Tickle Me versions.
The hustle paid off. Within two days, Freeman got a call from the show's producers, and Freeman offered to give them enough Tickle Me Elmos for the whole audience. In response, the producers created a "secret word" contest.
On the show, O'Donnell explained how the game worked: if one of her guests that morning mentioned the secret word, known only to the audence, each audience member would receive a doll. When the last guest of the morning finally uttered the magic word, sirens went off - and most importantly, the camera panned to a sea of Tickle Me Elmos in the arms of a wildly cheering audience.
At the same time, USA Today ran a front page "hot toy" story featuring a photograph of Tickle Me Elmo, which ran the day Tyco's TV ad campaign broke, and calls from the media starting coming in.
The following week, Freeman worked with another toy expert, Joanne Oppenheim, to coordinate a toy segment she was planning for "Today" show.
Gumbel apparently fell in love with the doll and sat with a Tickle Me Elmo doll on his lap throughout the entire segment. Following this, the doll appeared on a segment of the "Regis and Kathy Lee" show and in mid-November, the producers at the O'Donnell show were clamoring for 200 more dolls. (Bruce Maguire and Ellie Bagli, Freeman Public Relations, 201/470-0400; Christopher Byrne, toy editor and analyst, 212/691-1100)